This is our cat, Henry. He’s a flame point Siamese cat which we adopted from the Animal Rescue League 6 years ago. He is the most affectionate cat you will ever meet. More than a week ago, the kids noticed that Henry was having trouble at the litter box and suspected he was constipated. After examination, the vet diagnosed that Henry was suffering from blockage; he was unable to urinate. It is a life threatening emergency that required immediate attention. The vet had to insert a catheter into his urethra to unblock him by flushing out any mucus plugs or crystals that were causing the blockage. The process usually takes a few days to ensure all the obstruction has been completely flushed out and the cat has to able to urinate by itself before the vet sends it home. Unfortunately for us, our vet released Henry the next day. When he came home, he was still unable to relieve himself, so we had to return him to the vet. They had to reinsert the catheter. We were later informed that Henry had pulled the catheter out overnight and they had to put it back in. The process of catheterization is painful and there were concerns about the multiple insertions causing infections, urethra injury or other complications. On day 6, the vet had removed the catheter and Henry was still unable to use the litter box by himself. We had to transfer him to a pet hospital. They had to re-catheterize him and kept it in for 48 hours. After 2 days, we finally received a confirmation that we were able to bring him home.
Having a sick pet going through a life threatening event is excruciating for the family. Urinary blockage is common in male cats and it has a high rate of recurrence. This was Henry’s second blockage. His first blockage occurred 4 years ago. We tried to do everything to prevent another occurrence and it can be discouraging not knowing what had gone wrong. The kids also played a part in deciding whether to opt for a perineal urethrostomy surgery to prevent future blockage. They had do a lot of research to understand the risks and benefits to help us make the decision. Understanding how the surgery can alter Henry’s personality and cause depression, they have decide to opt out of the surgery this time. While we are happy to have Henry back home again, we are also apprehensive about future recurrence.